December 6 2009

Selhurst Park

Losing at home to a run-of-the-mill northern club is not the way to bring the crowds back to Selhurst Park, declares Jamesey.

Somebody must have got the sign out again. You know, the one in the visitors' dressing room that says "Not won away this season. Welcome to Selhurst Park for your first".

Well, I have to admit that you can't win 'em all, and our nice little run of two home victories and a plethora of 1-1 draws had to end at some point. But did it have to be to a team unsuccessful in winning an away game and hardly stiff opposition one would have thought?

But, as we now know, Doncaster Rovers won the game emphatically with a score of 0-3 (Dec 5) and with a gate just topping 13,000 - going down by 1,000 a time in recent matches.

Let me admit that I did not attend, missing my first home game of the season and thinking, wrongly as it turned out, that I could leave the lads not to make too much of a hash of it without me.

In our first little outing since last May, I took Mrs J on a jaunt to Brussels and, after a lovely few days enjoying the Christmas markets, the mulled wine, the Breughels and Rubens's in the Museum of Old Arts, the Magritte exhibition and many other delights, we were sitting comfortably on Eurostar while the drama unfolded at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon.

The rain slashed against the train windows as we sped through the fields of Flanders and north-west France, and I dozed happily dreaming of the Belgian dish, moules et frites (mussels and chips, for you non-linguists) and half-litres of Leffi Blond biere at 7 euros a throw in a decent brasserie.

Anyhow, my reverie was soon shattered when I checked the football results on my radio as we emerged from St Pancras.

Would I have walked after the third goal hit the back of the Palace net? Definitely yes because I have paid my season ticket money for the past 30-odd years (and bought tickets for many years before that when I couldn't afford a season) which I think is a reasonable testament to my loyalty and I reserve the right to leave a game whenever I feel like it. It would appear that many of the non-Donny pesuasion agreed with me on Saturday.

Finally just in case it escaped the attention of some individuals whose sole reason for using this site is to bicker with each other over stupid trivia on the message boards, HOL is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

I joined the team a couple of years after its inception and we all have different reasons for using the site which, due to the hard work and dedication of a team of tireless Palace fans, offers a matchless range of facts, statistics, in-depth analyses, and much more besides.

Appreciation and gratitude from this veteran supporter to Gordon Law and Peter Guntrip for their boundless efforts and enthusiasm in keeping HOL in the forefront of UK football websites.

And I hope to meet many of you at our celebration party when you will have the opportunity to tell me why my views are misguided and I will feel free to give a smack in the mouth to the older and smaller ones among you!

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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